TORONTO – As children enter a third school year impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, parents are filled with apprehension.
COVID-19 cases are increasing during Canada’s fourth wave, and younger students across the country return to unvaccinated classrooms.
And yet data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds most parents of school-aged children, regardless of their kids’ ages, are comfortable returning their kids to in-person learning.
Three-quarters of parents with a child aged 12 to 17, and two-thirds of parents with a child aged five to 11, say they are comfortable putting their kids back in classrooms.
But parents want additional safeguards.
Three-quarters (74%) of parents with older kids, and four-in-five (81%) parents with kids aged five to 11 (who are still ineligible for the vaccine), believe vaccines should be mandatory for school staff including teachers.
Those with children ineligible for the vaccine are the most worried with one-third (34%) of parents of a child aged five to 11 saying they are “very concerned” about their children getting sick.
And three-in-five with a vaccinated child aged 12 to 17 say they are still worried about their children getting sick from COVID-19.
Despite all the concern, in-school learning is vastly preferred to online. Nine-in-10 (88%) of both groups of parents prefer their children learn in-person rather than online.
More Key Findings
A majority of both groups of parents (65% with a child aged 12 to 17; 64% with a child aged five to 11) want to see vaccine mandates for students as well, though that won’t be possible for kids under 12 until a vaccine is made available to them.
Regionally, a significant minority are not on board with masks or vaccines for students. One-third of people living in the Prairies and one-quarter of those in Quebec believe neither masks or vaccines should be mandatory for students.
